Crisis and Consciousness: Lessons and Reflections from March 4th

Advance The Struggle

Tables of Contents

1. Introduction to March 4th
2. October 24^th Compromise
3. City committees: Oakland and LA, Class Struggle Left Committees
4. San Francisco: Center Wins Over Left
5. UC Berkeley vs. UC Santa Cruz: Campus Committees Choose Focus
6. UC Davis and CSU Fresno: Central Valley Consciousnesa
7. Seattle: Worker-Student Power
8. Conclusion
9. Appendix
   1. Canada Community College
   2. UC Berkeley marches to Oakland
   3. Youth lead in Oakland
   4. CCSF

I. Introduction

Spirit is indeed never at rest but always engaged in moving forward. But just as the first breath drawn by a child after its long, quiet nourishment breaks the gradualness of merely quantitative growth – there is a qualitative leap, and the child is born.

– Hegel

March 4^th provides us with a snapshot into the strategic and theoretical frameworks used by the Left to understand, develop and radicalize consciousness; we begin to see patterns emerge as this consciousness is translated into working class action, and we begin to ask ourselves what is needed to learn from these actions and begin developing a revolutionary consciousness and practice to address the ongoing crisis of capital.

Pigs attack occupation benefit party in San Francisco

Sounds familiar
From Golden Gate Press

Benefit party ends in riot
by Andrew Palma, Staff Writer
JANUARY 31, 2010 3:05 AM

Chaos erupted outside of a student party in the SOMA district early this morning as police drew their firearms amidst a struggle to restrain some of those in attendance.

At 12:47 a.m., police and firefighters entered a storefront warehouse at 154 7th Street between Mission and Howard Streets and ordered everyone to vacate the premises. It is not immediately clear why police decided to order everyone to leave.

What followed was a few, tense moments as police struggled with some of the people in attendance amidst cries of protest from others watching in the street.
An all-out brawl broke out between some of the partygoers and police. Within minutes of the outbreak, several more police cars arrived on the scene with officers running from their vehicles to break up and restrain the fight.

Small explosions were also heard and seen erupting near some of the police vehicles parked in front of the building, although it is not clear if that came from the police or from people on the street. The scene could only be described as chaotic as police shouted commands, some with their weapons drawn, and people on the street shouted obscenities at the officers.

Rocks and bottles were thrown at police cars as they arrived on the scene, chants of “F*** the Police,” echoed from all sides of the street, and police shoved people who were standing in the street ordering them to move onto the sidewalk.

An unconfirmed total of nine people were arrested, according to party attendee Aaron Buchbinder, 26, who said commanding officer Borges informed him of that amount.

Police would not speculate when asked for details about how many people were arrested or why they broke up the party.

SF State student and [X]press photographer Krystal Peak was also arrested as she took pictures of the scene. Police allege that she was impeding a criminal investigation.

“We saw a guy being pinned down, and man and somebody else getting pushed up against a car,” CCSF student Yarilis VasquezGuzman, 24, said, “The guy was saying… he was complaining about his finger. There were too many cops outside, too much aggression.”

The party was organized by students from SF State, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis, to help raise money for fines issued during last semester’s spate of demonstrations, including SF State students who were arrested during the occupation of the Business building on Dec 9.

News and Communique from Ongoing SFSU Occupation

we are still here
December 9, 2009 by occupysfsu.wordpress.com:
To those disaffected and affected by the budget cuts.
To those laid-off faculty who have been sent off this campus because Robert Corrigan values his six-figure income more than your pedagogy.
To those workers, always the unseen heroes who are the first to take the sacrifices.
To those janitors, who were denied from doing their jobs because of us. We do this for you.

40 years ago on this campus, San Francisco State College gave in to the demands of the 5-month Ethnic Studies strike, which gained valuable educational and economic opportunities for all Black and Third-World people. Self-determination for people of color was the word of the day, and although concessions were made, the struggle for self-determination of the working-class has not ended, but is going through a new phase of global class struggle intensified by the polarization of capital and labor.

Also 40 years ago, Indians of All Nations took a famous federal property known as Alcatraz Island, or The Rock, and again occupied the land that Lakota Indians had taken years prior unsuccessfully. The organizers, American Indians from tribes all across the continent, included young Richard Oakes, a Mohawk SF State student. The occupation lasted 19 months, whereby the IAN demanded a new American Indian Center on the unused surplus property, created a Bureau of Caucasian Affairs to deal with the white man, and purchased the island with feathers and beads worth more than the money paid to the native inhabitants of Manhattan Island by colonialists.

San Francisco State Occupied!

SAN FRANCISCO – a business building at SFSU has been occupied ~6am Wednesday morning

Mainstream report:

SFSU Students Take Over Building in Protest

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — An early morning protest on the San Francisco State campus over budget cuts and fee increases has university officials scrambling this morning, as student organizers say they have taken over the school’s business building.
KCBS’ Holly Quan Reports

It’s the week before finals at SFSU, and protestors say they didn’t want to let the semester go by without making some kind of statement on the recent fee increases brought on by California’s budget problems.

The 20 or so protestors inside the building donned masks and blocked the entrances to the building with desks and chairs, while another 30 protestors gathered outside.

Students tell KCBS that paying $2,300 to $2,400 in tuition next semester prices many working-class students out of a college education.

California OCCUPIED

California is Occupied

November 18, 2009

The Regents of the University of California are voting, at UCLA, on 32% fee increases for students from November 17 – 19. (The CSU trustees are also meeting on these dates). Students through out the state of California are in an uproar.

UC Santa Cruz: over 500 students are occupying the Kresge Town Hall as of 3:45pm, Wednesday.

the details: hundreds of students rallied at the two entrances to campus shutting it down for several hours. Another group of 300 students entered into the Kresge Town Hall to create an organizing space around the budget cuts. Later in the evening, students at the entrances joined the others in the Kresge Town Hall. Currently, the space is being used to plan further actions.

UC Berkeley attempted occupation. Students have been organizing massive actions through out these three days as well.

UCLA, 14 students arrested earlier. UPDATE (8am Thurs): UCLA IS OCCUPIED

the details: students at UCLA held a “crisis fest” on Wednesday night. At 12am, students go and occupy the campbell hall and rename it the Carter-Huggins Hall, after two black panthers that were murdered in the building. As of this morning the building is still occupied.

-see website

-info from LA Times, LA Indymedia

SFSU held a sit-in, that has now ended. See Indybay.

City College of San Francisco, 500 students walked out in solidarity